Strictly speaking, this second expedition was launched before the Human Race had fully prepared itself.
This preparation wasn't about mentality — it was about the accumulation of strength.
The outcome alone made that abundantly clear: had Zhang Ruoxi not burst onto the scene, and had the Small Stone Race army not lent their full support, the Human Race would have already lost this expedition.
According to the original plan, Mi Jinglun had already been preparing to withdraw the army and wait for Yang Kai's return, so that the remnants of the Human Race could be led to that distant new world. And once the surviving Human Race forces retreated, this realm would inevitably fall under the control of the Ink Race.
Was it because the Human Race hadn't worked hard enough? Was it because the world's fortune hadn't favored them?
Neither.
When a race stood at the brink of life and death, it could unleash tremendous potential. In just a few thousand years, the Human Race had grown from their desperate situation of old to their current standing — reclaiming three thousand lost territories, capturing the Eternal Fortress — and that was already their limit.
If the Human Race hadn't worked hard, they wouldn't have the foundation they had today. If the world's fortune hadn't favored them, there would have been no cradles of the Open Heaven Realm.
But when facing a colossus like the Ink Race, in the end, strength was the only thing that mattered.
The time left to the Human Race had simply been too short. Whether they were ready or not, this expedition was inevitable.
Because Mo was about to awaken.
In such a situation, striking first was far better than sitting back in defense.
After years of great battles, tempered through the crucible of war, the various Human Race armies had long since condensed into a cohesive whole — but it still wasn't enough.
The battle continued.
After a brief deliberation, Mi Jinglun abandoned the idea of sending reinforcements to the Small Stone Race, because the battle before them was not the final one. The Small Stone Race's forces were sufficient to handle what lay ahead, but after this battle, even more perilous fighting awaited the Human Race's armies.
The existing Human Race armies needed to conserve their strength for the moment that was about to arrive!
On the battlefield, blast after blast of brilliant Purification Light erupted, filling the vast void. Under the Purification Light, not only were the scattered streams of the Power of Ink dispersed and cleansed, but the Ink Race armies caught within it also suffered devastating casualties, their vitality severely drained.
The current state of the battle was dire for the Ink Race.
No reinforcements remained within the Grand Barrier. Even the King Lords no longer dared approach the breach to investigate, for fear of being spotted by Zhang Ruoxi and inviting their own deaths.
Meanwhile, the Small Stone Race continued to receive an endless stream of reinforcements pouring out of the Void Corridor, marching into the battlefield one after another…
Though the Ink Race still retained tens of millions of troops, with the handful of King Lords and False King Lords having been wiped out by the eight Ninth-Order Small Stone Race members, they could no longer mount any effective resistance.
The two Giant Divine Spirits rampaged unchecked, and the eight Ninth-Order Small Stone Race members advanced like an unstoppable tide.
Armies of Small Stone Race, formed in neat battle formations, encircled them from every direction.
The encirclement shrank with each passing moment. Countless Ink Race lives were extinguished with every tick of the clock.
It wouldn't be long before the Small Stone Race army annihilated every last Ink Race soldier scattered outside the Grand Barrier.
…
In the two thousand three hundred and sixth world — the region where Mo's Origin was sealed away — another great battle was underway.
Mu's shadow, through sheer individual power, held back the numerous Ink Devotees of this world, allowing Yang Kai to focus on sealing that sliver of Origin undisturbed.
The Gate of the Mysterious Female was brought forth, its doors cracked open just a sliver. Within the sealing zone, Mo's Origin surged outward.
Just as with every previous sealing, that Origin seemed to be drawn by some inexplicable force, rushing toward the crack in the gate.
Yang Kai had witnessed similar scenes many times by now and was no longer surprised.
According to Mu, the Gate of the Mysterious Female was a supreme treasure born alongside heaven and earth. Before the gate, the world's first light had come into being, and behind it, the primordial darkness had been nurtured.
That first light symbolized all the brightness and beauty of the world, and it was not bound by the Gate of the Mysterious Female — it had departed the moment it was born. But the darkness born within the gate could not leave so easily.
Not until that primordial darkness, accumulated over endless ages, had given rise to its own consciousness.
That was Mo!
So for Mo, the Gate of the Mysterious Female naturally possessed the power to seal it. This was precisely why Mu had hidden the Gate of the Mysterious Female within the Primordial World.
Only the Gate of the Mysterious Female could seal Mo's Origin.
In all previous sealings, nothing had gone wrong. Whenever the Gate of the Mysterious Female was brought forth and its crack opened, the Origin within each world was drawn into it.
But this time, something was different.
Yang Kai could clearly sense that Mo's Origin was struggling violently, as though it had developed its own consciousness and was trying to break free of the Gate of the Mondrous Female's pull.
But in the end, it was merely a strand of Origin power — it could not withstand the gate's force.
Just as that sliver of Origin was about to surge through the gate, a pair of eyes opened within the darkness of that power.
They were indescribable eyes — as if they contained all the darkness in the world. The moment those eyes fixed on him, even Yang Kai felt a chill run through his entire body.
Fortunately, it lasted only an instant. The Origin poured through the gate and vanished, and that bone-deep cold disappeared without a trace.
"I'm approaching the limit," Yang Kai realized with sudden clarity.
Along this journey, he had traversed over two thousand worlds and successfully sealed roughly one thousand portions of Mo's Origin.
Mu had divided Mo's Origin power into three thousand portions, sealing them across three thousand separate realms. Though his journey had been filled with setbacks and unexpected complications, he had ultimately succeeded in sealing a great many of them.
This accounted for nearly thirty percent of Mo's Origin — a harvest that could truly be called bountiful.
The more portions of Origin that were sealed, the greater the impact on Mo.